Reddit User Has Been Playing The Same Game Of Civilization II For Over Ten Years

Alex Knapp
,
Forbes Staff
I write about the future of science, technology, and culture.

The frontlines of the 1700 year long war.

Reddit user Lycerius has shared with the community a thing of gaming glory: the game of Civilization II that he's been playing for over 10 years. The game is currently in the year 3991 A.D., and the state of the world isn't pretty. Devastated by nuclear war and global warming, there are three totalitarian nations remaining - the Americans, the Vikings, and Lycerius' own Celts. The Celts are a Communist state while the other two are Fundamentalist states. Here's a taste of Lycerius' description, but you really need to read the whole thing.

As a result, big cities are a thing of the distant past. Roughly 90% of the worlds population (at it's peak 2000 years ago) has died either from nuclear annihilation or famine caused by the global warming that has left absolutely zero arable land to farm. Engineers (late game worker units) are always busy continuously building roads so that new armies can reach the front lines. Roads that are destroyed the very next turn when the enemy goes. So there isn't any time to clear swamps or clean up the nuclear fallout.

[...]

-You've heard of the 100 year war? Try the 1700 year war. The three remaining nations have been locked in an eternal death struggle for almost 2000 years. Peace seems to be impossible. Every time a cease fire is signed, the Vikings will surprise attack me or the Americans the very next turn, often with nuclear weapons. Even when the U.N forces a peace treaty. So I can only assume that peace will come only when they're wiped out.

This game has sparked a great deal of discussion on Twitter, and more than a few users noted the eerie parallels to 1984, which spawned one of my favorite conversations in the thread:

Other reddit contributors shared ideas for actually winning the game and rebuilding the world for the glorious Celtic empire. The most commonly suggested tactic was for Lycerius to change his government to Fundamentalist (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I guess). Then ally himself with one of the other nation states to wipe out the third. The primary problem with this tactic, though, is that according to Lycerius, the Vikings keep the Americans in a stalemate by using their Navy to constantly bombard American cities, for which the Americans have no response.

Still more reddit contributors starting writing short stories set in the era of this Civilization II game, and within in a few short hours, the game now has its own devoted subreddit, which has been dubbed "The Eternal War." The reddit includes some collected commentary as well as some fan fiction.

As a hardcore Civilization fan, I'm totally loving the discussion over this game. I've been playing the games ever since the first one, which I got as a Christmas present when I was a kid. This is just fantastic.